Earth 90X120 Map
Author: Andrew P. Livings
Date: November, 2000
(developed for use in the scenario "Crises of the New World Order")

This map is the oversized successor to my 86x116 map. Thanks to Jorrit Vermeiren for sharing the information on how to do that. The round number map dimensions have been chosen partly to facilitate map linking in TOT, and partly because I needed to make some adjustments to the original. To this end the Americas are taller; north America is wider; and the map was stretched in the middle east to ease the spread of cities in the caucuses mainly. Also the Pacific is slightly wider than before giving ever more realistic distances. 

This map may be freely distributed providing that both 90x120.mp and 90x120.txt files are both included. You may not use this map in any published mod-pack or scenario without extending credit to me, or without providing the download link from my web-site (http://www.aplivings.btinternet.co.uk/scenario/90x120.zip). You do not need my prior permission if these conditions are accepted and observed.

One of the frustrations of designing realistic world scenarios is the inadequacies of the default Microprose map. In most respects it is a faithful attempt at simulating the earth, at least in America and Europe, after which the designers knowledge of world cartography seems to be rather hazy. My own amendments over the years have filled in much of the blanks: adding rivers, islands, and redrawing most of the Far-East, but it still used the basic 75x120 map which was deficient in actual longitudal spacing (more to do with the isometric tiling than the map size, but I wonder why MPS don't simply make Civ3 on the kind of 3-D globe, or "geosphere" that was used in the contemporary X-COM series to better simulate games on planets).

It is a difficult problem, as every cartographer knows, to map the features of a 3-D sphere onto a 2-D rectangle. Since representing a sphere on a flat plane always creates distortions, only the parallels or the meridians (or some other set of lines) can maintain the same length as on a globe of corresponding scale. All other lines must be either too long or too short. Accordingly, the scale on a flat map cannot be true everywhere; there will always be different scales in different parts of a map. On world maps or very large areas, variations in scale may be extreme. Most maps seek to preserve either the true area relationships (equal area projections) or true angles and shapes (conformal projections); some attempt to achieve overall balance.

The best known projection method, Mercator, is best used for navigational purposes, as all compass directions appear as straight lines. In addition, every small region conforms to its shape on a globe - hence the name conformal. But because its meridians are evenly-spaced vertical lines that never converge (unlike the globe), the horizontal parallels must be drawn farther and farther apart at higher latitudes to maintain a correct relationship. Only the equator is true to scale, and the size of areas in the higher latitudes is dramatically distorted. Robinsons projection (used as the basis of the MPS map) combines elements of both conformal and equal area projections to show the whole earth with relatively true shapes and reasonably equal areas.

For this map I chose to keep to the Robinsons projection, but to cut off the lateral meridians towards the polar regions that are never going to be used in any game, and to use the extra memory space to widen the map to allow a more relaxed spread of continents, so both the Pacific and Atlantic oceans are much wider than before. Africa was slightly scaled down, and North America especially was expanded to better represent a "plan" of continents. Plus I imported the many additional amendments of mine into this to create what I think is a really nice world map, which I intend to use as the basis for any of my global scenarios. It may not be perfect, but for a game I am not really concerned with strict accuracy if it restricts game development. I hope other feel the same way.